By Thomas Gibbons
NEW UPDATE:
I reached out to President of Dominican University Donna Carroll about the money being received from the stimulus package:
Dominican submitted its documentation and has been certified to receive stimulus funds. That is step one. Now we are waiting for a first payment, which should be accompanied by broad allocation parameters. At the same time, Dominican is reviewing its aid and emergency funding policies to determine how/where we make the biggest difference for students.
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UPDATE: The Dominican Star is aware of the many student questions that have been submitted via the newspapers Snapchat. We at the DU Star have the same questions and eagerness for answers from the University. This period of transition to online classes has been a big change for everyone. We will continue to work with administration to get these questions answered and provide students with all they need to know.
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As part of the coronavirus stimulus package, about $14 billion in grants were to be directly sent to institutions of higher education. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education released information about how $12.5 billion would be distributed to these institutions.
Dominican University has received approximately $3,025,781 million from the U.S. Department of Education. This money will be distributed immediately to colleges and universities to provide emergency cash grants to college students whose lives and educations have been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.
“What’s best for students is at the center of every decision we make,” said Secretary DeVos. “That’s why we prioritized getting funding out the door quickly to college students who need it most. We don’t want unmet financial needs due to the coronavirus to derail their learning.” – U.S. Secretary of Education Besty DeVos from Washington on Thursday
As noted from an article posted by the U.S. Dept. of Education, Colleges and universities are required to utilize the $6.28 billion made available today to provide cash grants to students for expenses related to disruptions to their educations due to the COVID-19 outbreak, including things like course materials and technology as well as food, housing, health care, and childcare. In order to access the funds, the Department must receive a signed certification from the higher education institution affirming they will distribute the funds in accordance with applicable law. The college or university will then determine which students will receive the cash grants.